Of Computers, Magic, and The Meaning of Life
by JcL107
Summary: Lucy and Erza are abducted by strange men with nary a trace left behind. How will Fairy Tail cope when another one appears in their guild hall and calmly tells them "everything is in motion" as if nothing had happened? I suck at summaries. Rated M for language, violence, and other planned developments. ON HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **This is my first fanfic, so please bear with me! However, Fairy Tail and all related characters belong to Mashima. At best I can only claim the ideas behind the OCs. Also, I want to thank Deathsembrace137 for permission to depict Lucy as an S-class mage courtesy of her "A Love of Lightning" story - I don't know if I could have started writing this story without that starting point! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

PS - I've rewritten the story with actual names for OCs! Don't forget to review after reading!

* * *

**Chapter 1**

It was a night like any other typical night – only a few people were walking around Magnolia at this late hour, while many Fairy Tail mages continued to enjoy each other's company at their guild hall. Erza and Lucy had just returned from the latter's first official S-class mission, and as exhausted as they both were from chasing down a dark guild terrorizing a town to the east they stayed at the guild partying with everyone else, tired enough to not be bothered by Natsu and Gray brawling again but not so tired that they wanted to leave for home too soon. Apart from the fact that most of the Fairy Tail mages had drunk more than they normally would, it seemed like any other ordinary night for Fairy Tail and the residents of Magnolia.

* * *

Hidden in the shadows, however, a man watched the Fairy Tail guild hall vigilantly for any signs of a certain blonde girl said to summon spirits through various keys she always carried. Though his body ached for rest, he knew that losing consciousness now before he could track Fairy Tail's resident Celestial mage would bring much more pain. Suddenly a device crackled to life as the man heard a voice ask: "Any status update, Manny?"

"Nothing yet," replied the man known as Manny while he kept his eyes peeled for any indication that Lucy Heartfilia might have started leaving the guild hall. "Everything set for your side?"

"Yes sir," the voice replied. "Inform us when she leaves and follow her here. Over."

* * *

In an entirely different world, Jade suddenly woke up with a start. Looking at the alarm by her bed, Jade quickly realized that there was something amiss as she never woke up on the rare days off before her alarm rang at 0930. Feeling too uneasy to return to bed, she began trying to think of what could have caused her to wake up so abnormally when she suddenly remembered what her boss said about abducting Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail. Turning on her computer, she plugged it into her and began searching for whatever information was known about Fairy Tail and their Celestial mage. As much as she disliked most of the made-up stories posted as "reality" on FFnet she felt drawn there as though something truly important had been buried amongst the rubble. Her eyes fell on one titled "A Love of Lightning" by someone using the pen name Deathsembrace137 and, feeling that that particular story may be what she was looking for she quickly pulled out a set of tarot cards and cast them about – much like Cana would, without realizing that fact – and read them to see that this was the story she was to comb through. Suddenly her eyes shot wide open and she realized that she would need to traverse the not-so-insignificant distance to Lucy's house as quickly as possible. Barging into her (work) partner's room, Jade quickly found the person she was looking for and ran over, shouting "Grant! We need to get to reach Fairy Tail, pronto! Grab your stuff and follow me!"

"But wh…" Grant started only to be cut off by Jade saying that "I can feel something bad is going to happen if we don't – I'll tell you more on the way there." Grant nodded understanding to Jade and soon followed her out heading towards Magnolia. Suddenly one of their devices crackled to life and despite the static in their reception both could hear Manny's voice saying "Celestial mage … left guild hall … red-head girl … Initiate. Over." As if those words had removed a blindfold, Grant now realized what made the usually stoic and emotionless Jade feel on edge as they raced against time to reach Magnolia.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** So I'm not entirely sure how I want this upcoming fight to play out while getting more OCs involved. If you have other ideas for me to try, any and all reviews will be appreciated (although I might just feed Natsu whichever reviews are made of flames).

Please give me reviews! It helps me keep my ideas flowing whenever I read reviews, and I do try to get back to you eventually.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

As Lucy and Erza drunkenly stumbled back to their Fairy Hills residence, giggling about Mira's continued attempts to pair up Fairy Tail mages, they failed to notice how Fairy Hills looked different from before. Had they not been drinking earlier that night, they likely would have felt that something was off – that something was way off. Not only was Manny closely tailing them, but Manny's cohort was also watching from the shadows while preparing themselves to strike upon the unsuspecting women. The unnaturally loud, metallic-sounding CLANG the closing door made caused both women to sober up enough to feel that the Fairy Hills residence they had just entered wasn't all it had originally seemed to be. Stopping in the middle of the hallway, Lucy glanced at Erza while nodding her seeming understanding of their current situation. Quickly readying herself for battle, Erza called out "Who's there?" into the darkness behind her.

"Only my partner and I," a deep-throated voice responded with a hint of suppressed chuckling in his voice. Stepping out of the shadows, Manny glanced at his partner-in-crime before turning his attention back to Erza and asking "Well, do you mind if we get this party started, oh great Titania, Queen of Fairies?"

"Who are you people? How did you know to find me here? And what do you want from us?" hissed Erza in reply as she quickly waved at Lucy to be careful in dealing with the intruders.

"Who are we? Well, I suppose you do have a right to know that I am known as Manny. My partner over there," said Manny with a gesture at his partner, who was currently leering at Lucy, "is known as Nomad. Don't bother trying to sort any of it out – the names themselves don't really mean anything besides allowing us to reference one another, and no we won't tell you more about ourselves. Finding you was very easy, since little Lucy Heartfilia's extensive magical power can be readily traced by our scanners. As for what we want from you two? You, Erza Scarlet, shall be another of our captives."

As Erza began to emit a dark aura of her anger at that last statement, Manny casually continued "Oh don't worry, we'll treat you very nicely while you're under our watch – it's primarily the little Princess we're more interested in, although we'll have to take you with us as well since we can't leave any witnesses around."

"I'm not going to let that happen! We shall stop this madness of yours!" shouted Erza as she quickly exquipped into her Morning Star Armor and charges at Manny. Meanwhile, Lucy calls out "Sagittarius! Taurus! Leo!" while pulling out her whip as her three spirits appeared before her in a flash.

"Ooh, getting feisty aren't we?" taunted Nomad while he grinned at the appearance of the three spirits. As if there was no battle occurring, Nomad calmly sat down on the floor – if you could call it that – and pulled out a laptop from the backpack he wore to begin typing on it. As soon as Sagittarius began shooting arrows at Nomad, Lucy tried to whip her Fleuve d'Etoiles at him only to realize that the Nomad she could see was really only a virtual thought projection. As the realization dawned upon her, Taurus and Loki hesitated in their attacks sensing through Lucy that Nomad had disappeared from their immediate vicinity – only find their gates, along with that of Sagittarius, being forcibly closed by Nomad.

From Lucy's point of view, everything she could see was melting into nothingness despite her knowing very well that she was still conscious, alive, and very much so not blind – a quick wave of her own hand in front of her face had easily proved that last point. So what the hell was going on? Was it some kind of sensory magic from her opponent, this "Nomad" or whatever guy?

As if on cue, Nomad suddenly mentioned "I bet you're wondering what's going on right now, and what type of magic this is. I hate to disappoint you, but this part itself does not rely upon magic – it uses advanced technology to allow the four of us to shift into a dimension more suitable for combat. I doubt either you or Erza would really want to have to pay for the damages that would've occurred had we stayed at Fairy Hills." A sneer showed up on Nomad's face as he appeared into focus in front of Lucy, although the rest of the area remained a void-like black darkness. She could vaguely hear what sounded like Erza's voice shouting somewhere in the distance. Or was it merely muffled by this void? Either way, Lucy was unable to do anything about it until N had finished transporting them to whatever dimension he made his destination for their fight.

On Erza's side of the field, she saw dark blackness spreading around her and Manny as he silently sat down on what used to be the floor of Fairy Hills. Squeezing her normal eye shut to focus more on her magical eye, the only difference that Erza could discern was the presence of many green lines of unintelligible text seeming to appear from nowhere and fall down around the blackness before quickly disappearing again. Despite seeing the lack of green text surrounding the silhouette of Manny, she was unable to discern any movements from him and thus was unable to notice that he had pulled out a tablet and begun writing on it.

"Gaaaaaah!" shouted Erza as she tried to slash the falling green text and the blackness itself, both to no avail. Manny broke concentration from his tablet long enough to notice Erza flailing around as if she had gone mad, even though he knew that she was still perfectly sane – for now, that is – despite her lack of knowledge about teleportation in general, and chuckled to himself before resuming his work on the tablet.

* * *

As Grant and Jade landed on the outskirts of Magnolia, their sensors picked up the signals of Manny and Nomad shortly before the latter two teleported out with their targets in tow. "Fuck," swore Grant as he saw the signals of Manny and Nomad die out, indicating their teleportation. Jade, on the other hand, only squinted her eyes at her sensor before starting to think about where Manny and Nomad could reasonably teleport to. When it suddenly dawned in her head, she glanced over at Grant with an urgent look that said '_I know where they are'_ and saw Grant's eyes show that he too picked up on where Manny and Nomad had departed for.

Grant pulled out a laptop like Nomad's while Jade pulled out a tablet and quickly projected the relative areas of their own location against that of Manny and Nomad. Upon seeing that his partner also agreed, Grant began typing on the laptop and soon teleported them on their way towards Manny and Nomad. As they began teleporting, Jade felt an odd sensation as if someone was searching for them, and she voiced her concerns to her partner. "Do you think that Andy is looking for us right now?"

"Can't say for certain, although it feels like he is doing so," replied Grant.

Jade sighed and commented "Well, I just hope that we can get this properly explained to Master if Andy decides to voice his 'concerns' about our unexpected departure." Grant only nodded his agreement, knowing full well what both Andy and Master were capable of doing if they felt like it.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** If you're wondering about the spells Lucy uses in her fight, they're both ideas drawn from the Lucy in "A Love of Lightning" by Deathsembrace137. I strongly recommend you read that story as well. Also, I'm sorry if the fighting seems like shit - though if you find that to be the case I strongly encourage you to leave me a review!

C'mon people, leave me some more reviews! I want to improve as a writer, and I can't read your minds to do so even if I wanted to.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

When Erza could properly see again, the first thing she noticed was that Manny was casually stowing away a device that reminded her of a miniaturized TV lacrima, albeit flatter than she would've expected. Manny sees Erza gazing in wonder and confusion at his tablet and mentally notes that Erza has no knowledge about modern technological developments despite her immense magical abilities. Once Erza is able to snap her attention back from her amazement and onto the task at hand, she narrows her eyes threateningly at Manny and asks, "Is that how you use your magic? Through that flat lacrima you carry?"

Manny just laughs at Erza's question and responds, "No, it's just one way for us to keep in contact with each other when we're on missions with our partners. Do you want to see how it works?" Manny proceeds to laugh at Erza's gleaming eyes and sneers at her saying, "Only if you defeat both Nomad and me – which will not happen here!" A tick mark appears on Erza's forehead at his statement and she feels her blood begin to boil in anger.

"Don't you dare underestimate either of us! Your arrogance will cost you!" snapped Erza as she exquips into her Black Wing Armor and leaps into the air with her sword raised. Watching Erza prepare her attack, Manny just smiles to himself and changes into a similar outfit as Erza slashes downwards just in time to stop her attack with his sword. When Erza realizes that Manny had changed into something greatly resembling her Black Wing Armor, her eyes grow wide and she flies backwards to ready her next attempt. She activates her Moon Flash ability by shouting "Kureha: Gessen!" and rushes past Manny, but after hearing blood gush out from Manny's wound she stares down at herself in horror that a similar bleeding wound appeared on her own body as well, even if it wasn't gushing blood like Manny's wound was.

Manny calmly looks down at his wound and mutters "Impressive" while pulling out his tablet. With a few quick pen strokes, green text runs along his wound and quickly heals it into a scar. Seeing his healing was done, he pocketed the tablet again and looked back at Erza to see her exquipping into her Heaven's Wheel Armor – allowing his magic to create a similar duplicate of it, which he soon changed into.

When Erza finally looked back at Manny, she was shocked by the Heaven's Wheel Armor look-alike attached to his body since she knew that there had only been one set produced for combat – specifically her set. So why was this asshole wearing something that seemed just like it? Was he copying everything she did with his magic? Even if he could copy her fighting style, he shouldn't be able to duplicate the armor or weapons … right? With that thought in mind, Erza decided on her next action.

"Dance, my swords. Circle Sword!" Both yelled at the same time, causing a mass of swords to fly at each other. Although most of the swords merely clanged against one another, a few swords managed to fly through the chaos and strike their targets, causing both Erza and Manny to fall onto the floor gasping in pain. Manny once again pulls out his tablet and heals his injuries, although this time he notices that Jade had arrived and was emotionlessly observing their battle. Ignoring the panting Erza for the moment, Manny asks Jade, "Why are you here? Don't you have the day off today to rest yourself?"

"Yeah, I do, but I had a bad feeling about Master's intentions for your mission," Jade replied monotonously, almost as though she was bored. "I do see that you're well matched against Erza, as would be expected. I take it that Nomad is handling your objective well, then?"

Manny merely shrugged and sarcastically replied, "Why don't you ask him yourself? My hands are a bit full right now, as you can see." He turns his attention back to Erza just as she recovers enough to begin changing into her Purgatory Armor and proceeds to copy her. Jade sees his action and nonchalantly warns him, "Don't go overboard and accidentally kill her – you do know how much more useful she will be alive than dead, even if Fairy Tail wishes to maintain their wrath towards us." Manny snorts his breath in at this and replies, "No guarantees, since that depends on what tricks Titania tries to pull – although your help would be much appreciated in that case."

"This is _your_ mission, after all – I have no reason to intervene. Ask Nomad for help if you need it," Jade deadpans back. Seeing that Erza was preparing to continue clashing with Manny, Jade fell silent to watch their fight.

* * *

Lucy stared at Nomad as their destination dimension came into focus. Acknowledging that Nomad was resting for the moment, Lucy looked around her area and saw that it appeared to be some kind of coliseum or arena designed for combats to be put on public display – for whatever sick reason one would _want_ to see such combats for fun. In the distance she could see Erza and Manny holding a seemingly casual conversation, although she very well knew that Erza was not one for casual conversations with her enemies, except for S-class mages from other guilds. Lucy recalls from earlier that Erza didn't seem to recognize either Manny or Nomad despite their slightly drunken state, concluding that the man confronting her was not a recognized S-class mage – although that gave her little relief, recalling from her training with Erza that anything could be possible.

Shaking her head clear of such thoughts, Lucy refocused back on Nomad just as he seemed to be rising from his brief rest. Curiosity got the best of her, and Lucy ventured to ask, "What are those two talking about?" Nomad glances over at Manny and Erza before grabbing his laptop and showing it to Lucy. "They're discussing Manny's version of this – although his is less powerful than mine, it supplements his magic pretty well."

Lucy arched an eyebrow in confusion, causing Nomad to sigh and continue talking. "This is strong enough to teleport the four of us here at my will, and it helps me with my magic as well. As I'm guessing Manny told Erza, I can show you how it works – but only after you've defeated both Manny and me, and like hell that can happen here!" A sneer spread across Nomad's face as he finished his last sentence.

Just like Erza, a tick mark appeared on Lucy's forehead at his statement and she feels her blood begin to boil in anger. "Don't you dare underestimate either of us! Your arrogance will cost you!" snapped Lucy as she calls out two more of her spirits, "Scorpio! Aries!"

As the two spirits arrive, Nomad spits out "tch" in annoyance and proceeds to force their gates closed as well – but this time his force causes Lucy's magical power to spike and fall to a level considerably lower than her normal usage for summoning Celestial Spirits. Lucy screams out in anger and confusion, unable to understand how come her spirits were being forced back out of this world. "What the hell is happening? This shouldn't be happening! My contracts permit for such summons … WHAT THE FUCK!?"

While Lucy vents her anger, Grant silently arrives and nods at Nomad, who arches an eyebrow at him but says nothing for the moment. Lucy calms herself down enough to glance at Erza's battle with Manny as they clashed in similar sets of Black Wing Armor before turning back towards Nomad and noticing Grant along the way. Seeing Grant sitting on the ground as if he was bored out of his mind caused Lucy's eyes to pop out of her head as she screeched, "Wh…What the fucking hell? Do I have to fight two of you? That's totally not fair!"

"Whoa there, please calm down Lucy," started Grant as he heard Lucy's outburst. "Although I am on Nomad's side, I can assure you that I will not interfere with your battle as it is solely the responsibility of Nomad and his partner, Manny, to handle. Speaking of which, you _do_ know not to cause her to go crazy and all that stuff, right?"

Nomad snorted at Grant's question and deadpanned back, "Of course – it's part of the mission anyways, and I really doubt Manny could've handled her properly," rolling his eyes at his partner with his last statement.

Lucy flinched upon hearing Nomad talking about "handling" her, and asked "Why do you want me? What do you need _me_ for? I haven't done anything wrong to you guys – hell, I don't even know any of you!" Although she tried to keep herself from trembling in fear, Nomad could detect a hint of the fear in her voice and closed his eyes in meditation as he replied, telling her "That will be revealed to you when you decide to come with us. Oh and Erza as well, whether she likes it or not. Besides, you shouldn't be afraid of us – we'll treat you like a _queen_ while you're under our care, although the sooner you stop trying to resist us the better everything will be for everyone concerned," with a quick glance at Grant to indicate that he wasn't including Grant under the "everyone concerned" part.

Grant pointedly ignored Nomad's glance and added, "The only one you might want to be wary of is Andy, although even he will back down if Master tells him to." As if to acknowledge Nomad's previous words, Grant added "Even though I could probably care less, my partner took considerable interest in this particular mission and specifically you, Lucy Heartfilia."

"Then where is Jade? She should be here then, since you obviously didn't come here of your own volition," Nomad queried while looking around the arena. Upon noticing Jade silently resting near Manny and Erza's battle, he rolled his eyes while silently wondering _'what the hell is up with that girl? First she drags her partner here on their free day regarding something about Lucy, then she finds us and proceeds to ignore Lucy in lieu of Erza.'_ Slowly releasing a sigh towards Jade, he turned back towards Lucy and asked her, "Hey you! Are you going to continue wasting your magic power trying to call out spirits for me to send back, or are you actually going to try attacking me?"

Lucy glared at Nomad before releasing her two weaker spells at him, shouting "Star Strike! Celestial Sphere!" while pointing at Nomad. As Nomad jumped to the side of the shooting star, he noticed a bubble of magical energy building up and quickly expanding outwards from where he had previously been standing and arched an eyebrow in curiosity as it exploded. Grant scrambled backwards to avoid the explosion of Celestial Sphere while shouting, "Oi! Don't drag me into this fight until you defeat both Nomad and Manny! I'm just a bystander while you're fighting!"

"Yeah right – if I'm fighting Nomad and you're allies with him, then that makes you my enemy as well no matter how hard you refuse to attack me! I won't care to not attack you, even if I do focus on Nomad!" scolded Lucy as she looked through the dust trying to find Nomad, only to realize that there was no body where she had thought Nomad was hit by the explosion of Celestial Sphere.

"Impressive, what power you have even without using your spirits," came Nomad's voice from right behind Lucy, causing her to shriek in surprise and attempt to spin around to face him. Unfortunately for Lucy, Nomad had firmly clasped a hand around her waist and gently placed his other hand over her eyes when she tried to move. Using his magic, Nomad sent various illusory images into Lucy's eyes causing her to faint from the experience. "Ah, that's more like it. Now when Manny's handled Titania we can leave."

Jade saw Lucy faint in Nomad's arms and spoke up, saying "Seems like Nomad's finished his work here, Manny. You do want to get back while Lucy's still out cold, right?" Erza hears and hesitates, trying to decide whether to continue attacking Manny or try to take on Nomad in Lucy's stead. However, Manny notices her hesitation and quickly slashes at Erza, who barely manages to block the attack with her sword. Spreading his arms out wide, Manny tauntingly sneers at her and reminds her that "You need to get past me if you want to go save your girlfriend." Erza brings her blade up and charges Manny, running him through only to realize that it was merely an image of Manny that had been formed shortly before her attack. Having already depleted most of her magic, Erza began to feel weak as she stumbled forward, trying to look around to see where the real Manny had gone only to be knocked out by the force of a sword's flat side hitting the back of her head.

"A damn strong fighter, she is," comments Manny as he undoes his magic and picks up the unconscious Erza. Turning to Nomad who was standing by Lucy's body, he asks his partner "Should we tell their guild first or are we going to bring home these two with us right away?"

At this, Jade stands and speaks up. "We can tell the guild for you, so that you can get them to their temp residences sooner. Considering Fairy Tail, I'm guessing it's better for Master's plan if you had them secured over there by the time they learn about it. Grant, you want to come with me or are you going to enjoy the rest of your day off?"

Grant smiles at Jade's inquiry and stretches, saying "Of course I'm coming with you, unless you're trying to imply we aren't partners. Besides, this has been one of our more exciting off days, anyways – it can't get worse if we help out our fellows, can it?"

Nomad snorts at Grant while Manny accepts Jade's rather unusual offer, considering that the Jade he thought he knew rarely felt so strongly about missions other pairs worked on, let alone helping them out on any part of it. "Alright then, but don't forget to make sure that their Master Makarov is the first to know about it," Manny warns as Nomad begins teleporting themselves and the two women's bodies back to base.

After Manny and Nomad left for base while dragging along the unconscious Erza and Lucy, Grant looks at Jade and asks, "You really have a bad feeling about what Master wants with that Lucy, huh? Even if Manny and Nomad might not have noticed, I'm still your partner and I can tell that you're still bugged about something related to their mission." Jade sighs and replies, "Yeah, that's true. I still don't know why, but it feels like this was a rather unnatural mission from Master. Still, we should be getting back to Magnolia and talking with their Master Makarov, at any rate." Grant just nodded and teleported both of them away from the alternate dimension.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Well, I'm back from vacation and this here's the fourth chapter. For those of you who want fluff/smut - I'm afraid you'll have to wait longer, as it's still all plot here. Though your imaginations may run towards the bottom...? Or not. But bear with me please, as these chapters are meant to build up more background for future chapters (and no I don't want it to become smut-talking/action-smut repeatedly). Unfortunately, school-related activities return in force for me in about a week and a half, so I don't know how many more chapters of this I'll be able to churn out before then.

Also, write me some reviews! I want to know how I'm doing but I can't read minds to figure out ways to improve - reviews let me see what you think!

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Upon arriving at base, Manny and Nomad saw Andy leaning on the doorway staring at them. After a brief silence to allow Nomad a few breaths of recovery, Andy asked "How'd the mission go? It seems that Grant and Jade were around towards the end – are they trying to steal your mission from you?" Manny merely sighed and replied, "The mission itself was fine, and battling Titania was very interesting, to say the least. As for Grant and Jade, you should know just how hard it is to understand Jade – and no they didn't 'steal our mission' as you so callously put it, although Jade did offer to inform their Fairy Tail guild for us." Andy raised an eyebrow at that information, though he didn't say anything more to the two returnees while watching them bring the two women to a suite in their base specifically designed and set up for housing the two Fairy Tail mages per Master's wishes. As he saw the four bodies disappear around the corner, Andy thought to himself _'well, well, well, it seems like Master would be interested in knowing that Jade is meddling in affairs that shouldn't concern her again,'_ and soon left for Master's room.

* * *

When Grant and Jade returned to Magnolia, they noticed that the sun was about to rise so they quickly hurried over to the Fairy Tail guild hall and slipped around to the back near the window to Master Makarov's office. Checking to make sure that no one was around to observe their actions, Grant helped Jade and himself to become invisible and seemingly disappear from view while Jade worked on unlocking and opening the window. As soon as she was sure that Grant had finished making them both invisible, Jade quietly slipped into Makarov's office and walked over to the door to check that no one had yet arrived at the guild hall while Grant worked on returning the window back to its original state and making it seem untouched – or at least untouched by himself or his partner Jade. Satisfied with his work, Grant watched Jade come back into the room emotionlessly and they both waited for when Makarov would decide to return to his office.

Fortunately for them, Makarov randomly felt like today would be a good day for starting his paperwork early on and he soon entered the guild hall. After a quick stop at the bar to grab a bottle of beer, he made his way up the stairs and towards his office thinking about how many of his brats were going to be feeling after an intense party the night before – then reminding himself that there was nothing out of the ordinary about last night's party compared to all the others that Mira somehow managed to keep hosting most nights. With a sigh, he walked over to his office and began opening the door but froze when he felt the faint magical aura of someone unfamiliar. Readying himself for a potential sneak attack, he quietly called out, "I know there's someone in my office. I don't know what you want, but if you intend to harm my brats you will face consequences."

"Wonderful, as would be expected of a guild master – especially the one leading Fairy Tail," a monotonous voice replied as two figures revealed themselves in Makarov's office. He could determine that the previous speaker was the female standing closer to him while listening to the man standing by his window say, "If you don't mind coming in and closing the door, we would love the opportunity to discuss something _rather_ important with you – especially considering how much you care for your brats, as you call them."

Makarov warily eyed the two intruders before deciding that hearing them out in the manner they requested would be most beneficial to the guild, slowly walking over to the large chair behind his desk. As he sat down on the overly comfortable chair, a quiet sigh passed his lips as he motioned for the other two to sit down in front of him. "Very well, then. You two obviously know much about my guild, as would whomever you're working with or working for. Although your unexpected presences would normally be cause for concern and would probably justify me attacking you here and now, I can sense that your aura," pointing at Jade, "is disturbed by something that concerns me and Fairy Tail. Thus I shall restrain myself for now and hear you out – this one time." With this he shifted his gaze at Grant, almost implying that Jade was the only one he would hear out for now.

Jade silently noted her partner's silent squirming under Makarov's intense gaze, and then soon registered the aura of another person present. "That is very understandable, Master Makarov. However, it would be easier for us to discuss the matter at hand if you allow my partner Grant to remain near my side during our discussion, as well as having First Master Mavis reveal her presence," she replied with her seemingly bored gaze directed towards where she had sensed the other aura. "It's rather difficult to properly explain ourselves if we feel someone else's presence in this room but cannot see them – not that First Master Mavis needs to leave, as she would likely be of immense help for the guild in the coming days – but more a peace of mind matter, I think you understand." Even though Jade seemingly expressed no emotions whatsoever during her talking, Grant knew just how uncomfortable she could feel from the many times their own Master or Andy kept trying to listen to their own inter-partner conversations back at base – although admittedly it did help Jade to increase her awareness of when other people were present nearby. That should be a good thing despite the means towards it, right?

Makarov seemed conflicted about letting non-Fairy Tail mages see Mavis in person, even though she was technically a ghost, but considering that the woman sitting in front of him could feel Mavis's presence anyways and that Mavis was now smiling at him as if to say _'It's okay for them to see me,'_ he figured that he might as well give these two strangers temporary Fairy Tail guild marks, if solely for their peace of mind regarding Mavis's presence in his office. As Makarov walked around his desk to place temporary guild marks on the two, he saw the man's eyebrow arch in shock with confusion clouding his eyes though he didn't dare move since the woman next to him kept sitting still. Without missing a beat, he stopped in front of the woman and asked her where she wanted her Fairy Tail guild mark, despite how temporary it would be.

Jade merely rolled up her right sleeve and offered the upper part of her arm to be marked, to which Makarov placed his hand near her shoulder and sent some magic through his hand to impress a guild mark. Grant watched the proceedings with curiosity and a twinge of anxiety, as he wasn't particularly interested in being marked as a Fairy Tail mage – no matter how temporary it might be. However, he wouldn't complain if Jade was fine with it so he shrugged to himself thinking _'Oh boy Master's really going to have fun with us when we get back. As unsure as I am about what's going on, I trust Jade enough to let her handle this … right?'_ before rolling his left sleeve up to get his guild mark on his forearm. As soon as Grant got his guild mark, he noticed a child-like figure floating a short distance behind Makarov's desk and nearly fell backwards from the shock of seeing First Master Mavis.

Mavis looked at the wide open eyes of Fairy Tail's newest "member" and tried using her hands to suppress a giggle from flowing out of her, to little avail. Both Jade and Makarov glanced between Mavis and Grant with amusement dancing in their eyes not only at how shocked Grant appeared from seeing First Master Mavis, but also at Mavis's futile attempts to not laugh at Grant's expense. A few quiet minutes passed as Grant and Mavis tried to recover their usually calm demeanors while Jade and Makarov mentally prepared for their upcoming discussion, gazing into each other's eyes as if daring the other to speak first.

Rubbing his temples at the continued silence, Makarov sighed and began to speak. "Now that everyone here has been somewhat acquainted, so to speak, I would like to know just who you two are, what your purpose is in speaking with me, and why does it have to remain a secret from the rest of my brats?" Noticing the two uncomfortably shift in their seats at the word "secret," Makarov turned to Mavis and gestured for her to stand guard by the doorway while preparing to activate soundproofing runes inscribed across the walls.

Jade remained silent as she watched Makarov set up his office to his liking until he was satisfied that the four would not be interrupted during the upcoming discussion – _'especially considering the serious nature of it,'_ she thought to herself. She continued to wait until Makarov returned to and sat down in his chair, looking at her expectantly to begin the discussion. "I am Jade, and this is my partner Grant," Jade began with a gesture towards her right. "We are elite mages within The Organization, although our Master would argue that because of the computers she supplies her elite members we contain sufficient power to beat up every Dragonslayer in Fiore. What's most important for today is –"

"Wait a minute," Makarov cut in. "I can tell that your Organization is not a guild ever recognized in Fiore, be it good or dark, and yet I feel as though I should recognize it somehow. Why would that be? Also, what is the significance of your name designations?"

Grant spoke up this time. "As far as we can tell, Master intends to keep The Organization as much of a secret as possible – even going so far as to establish another dimension to hide our base from becoming common knowledge in our home world. What rumors do bounce around is that our Master could possibly be the long-lost sister of Hades, or Second Master Purehito as you would know him." Seeing Makarov momentarily lost in thought, Grant paused to allow Makarov to recollect himself and return his attention to the current discussion. "What Master has told us is that the elite mages in The Organization – similar to the S-class mages around Fiore – are each given a name designation where the first letter is purportedly based on some combination of abilities, usefulness to The Organization, and Master's personal preferences." With that said, Grant shrunk back into silence but kept sending occasional glances towards Mavis as though he still couldn't believe it was really her. All he could detect was a childish smile from her each time he looked.

Jade slowly blinked before resuming her original speech. "As I was saying, what's most important for today is that our Master sent Manny and Nomad to kidnap two of your children – specifically Lucy Heartfilia and Erza Scarlet." Upon hearing this news, Makarov turned deathly white with his mouth hanging low from shock. Even First Master Mavis, despite being the ghost of a dead person, appeared surprised by the news – or at least as surprised as a ghost could seem. As if she didn't notice their reactions – or more likely just didn't care enough to pause – she continued talking. "I presume that Master will ensure they are treated fairly, if not better, as I can feel that she has plans involving Lucy's magical abilities – which obviously requires her to be alive – and things will generally run much smoother for Master if Erza remains alive. Though I cannot make any guarantees, I do hope that she will return both of them alive … at the end of their usefulness, so to speak."

Although Makarov's face had regained a touch of color hearing that his brats would be okay despite having been abducted for use in whatever plan this "Master" of theirs had, he immediately felt nauseous after hearing Jade say "at the end of their usefulness" and collapsed unconscious onto the floor. Seeing Makarov's head laying on the floor, Mavis flew over to him and began bouncing on top of his head as if it was a trampoline. Grant watched the sight unfold in front of him and sweat-dropped, thinking _'Is that really necessary? The more I look at her the more she seems like a little child – and not the scary Guild Master she once was.'_ Stealing a quick glance at his partner, he saw Jade let out a little sigh in exasperation, knowing very well just how badly she felt about having to break such news to a caring Guild Master like Makarov. Jade just closed her eyes and rested until Makarov regained enough consciousness to resume their discussion.

* * *

When Lucy woke up, she found herself in a rather large room and feeling as if she was lying down upon something very, very comfortable. It was so comfortable she wanted to fall asleep – properly, this time – yet her body refused to let her sleep. She wondered how much time had passed since she was attacked and where she was now, but more importantly (in her mind) where Erza went. Erza couldn't have exquipped the entire room with her magic, could she? From what limited memories Lucy could currently recall, the current room looked nothing like what she could envision of Erza's rooms at Fairy Hills – and especially nothing like the room she "borrowed" from Erza to stay in while training to become an S-class mage about a year prior. As she stretched out, her left fist encountered something fleshy and she looked over to see the still unconscious Erza also lying on the bed, albeit having been stripped of her armor and changed into some kind of red dress. Looking back down at the rest of her body, Lucy slowly raised her head enough to see that she had also been changed into a dress similar to Erza's, although it was a blue dress that – in her eyes – contrasted against Erza's red one strongly enough to let her head fall back onto the bed. Hearing the door click shut, she tried turning her head towards where she thought it was.

"Oi, are you going to lay awake on the bed all day?" Upon hearing the unfortunately familiar sneering voice, Lucy shrieked and promptly fainted again. Nomad looked down at the two mages from his spot near the door and sighed, knowing just how pissed Master would be if these girls remained unconscious much longer. With that in mind, Nomad exited the suite and went looking for his partner to help out with their updated mission – taking good care of the two Fairy Tail mages they'd just abducted, even though only the Celestial Spirit mage was of much importance to Master's plan (or so he was told).


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** This might potentially be the last chapter I upload before heading off to college, as I'm being distracted trying to tie up some loose ends in my pre-college life (so to speak) and preparing for my departure in about a week. Still, I do hope that you like the story enough to bear with my future silence here - or at least until I can continue with occasional updates once college begins.

By the way, the lack of reviews is kinda depressing. I'm not a mind reader, and I can't improve on writing stories if no one leaves suggestions (constructive criticism is very much welcomed) through reviews, or PM-ing me.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

When Makarov regained enough consciousness to attempt resuming his previous conversation with this woman named Jade (and by extension her partner Grant), many members of the Fairy Tail guild had already began filtering into the guild hall and ordering food and drinks from Mira – who somehow managed to wake up at her ungodly-early hour as per usual, almost as if there was no party the night before. Grumbling under his breath, he asked First Master Mavis to go downstairs and inform Mira that he was currently busy with some "unexpected visitors" but would be coming out soon – or at least, hopefully soon. As he watched Mavis fly off towards the bar downstairs, he rubbed the side of his head (which Mavis had been jumping on) and turned back to the two guests in his office. "My apologies – I must be getting too old for these shocks coming as often as they do."

"That's very much alright with us, as I had expected you would be shocked by such news," Jade stoically replied as if telling such shocking information was the most regularly normal thing in the world for her to do. Then again, considering her typical demeanor it probably was.

"Very well then. Before you tell me why this needs to be kept secret from the rest of my brats, explain what you mean by Lucy's 'magical abilities' your Master intends to use – isn't it just variations of the Celestial Spirit magic that allows her both to use her spirit keys as well as use celestial spells?"

Jade sighed as if she had expected this as well. "I will tell you, but first it's only a 'well-educated' guess since there are no records of Celestial Spirit mages other than the first two being able to learn additional magical abilities – and especially nothing like what Lucy holds very deep within her – and second do I have your permission to wake you up when you faint again?" Makarov considered that last statement before figuring that she likely meant it would be even more shocking than what he'd already been told (if that was even possible) and deciding that it was in everyone's best interest for him to recover quickly from fainting again – which would likely be even more serious than the previous one he just woke up from (again, if that was even possible). Seeing him nod his consent, Jade continued explaining that "Our conclusion is that Lucy may be able to use Blood Summoning magic – which seems to have been banned with Dark Lord Zeref 400 years ago, is that right?"

Makarov fainted even harder this time, causing Jade to jump out of her chair and start repeatedly slapping him back and forth across the face. Grant brought a palm up to his own face and quickly slapped them together in a facepalm moment over his partner's out of character physical outburst towards Fairy Tail's Guild Master. Fortunately for everyone, Makarov soon recovered from Jade's rather violent "wake up" assault and smashed an oversized fist on top of her head to make her stop. As the two broke up and stumbled back to their respective chairs, Grant slapped his other palm onto his face as if he was trying to shamefully hide from the world – or at least trying to hide the remains of his dignity from the rather peculiar scene he had just witnessed. That was certainly something one would not expect to see on any regular day – and especially not if either Andy or, dare he think of it, Master caught wind of their activities. During all the commotion, Mavis quietly floated back into the office after having spoken with Mira downstairs.

After settling back down in her chair, Jade resumed talking as if nothing had happened at all – which in her mind there was nothing unusual, despite whatever protests Grant might make about that train of thought. "Now, should Master help Lucy develop proper usage of her Blood Summoning magic to a great extent, I could easily see even Zeref himself being revived and/or showing up near her. Even if he only works her out enough for her to have some sense of grasping her other ability, she could easily Blood Summon a living human she feels strongly related to – and who knows what consequences could happen if that is left unchecked? I surmise the Magic Council would not be pleased, to say the least – let alone send out requests for S-class mages in all the legal guilds to assist some of their Rune Knights in capturing Lucy should her Blood Summoning magic awaken." Though Makarov paled considerably upon hearing Jade's description of what she deemed plausible consequences of Lucy using Blood Summoning magic, he managed to not faint this time and was rewarded by a long groan hissing out of his lips. "Is that why all this needs to be kept secret? Because when Lucy returns she could very well bring destruction to our guild?"

Jade hesitated before answering "Well, the Blood Summoning magic must stay a secret between you, First Master Mavis, and anyone else from The Organization you might encounter – which from what I can discern are namely myself, my partner Grant, and the duo of Manny and Nomad, since this was originally _their_ mission anyways." Then Grant cut in, saying "However, I seriously doubt that you could keep Lucy and Erza's disappearance a secret for very long – especially considering how attentive Natsu, Gray, and Mira usually are regarding those two."

"Yes, yes, that's very true, but there is one _rather_ important facet – under no circumstances should anyone from The Organization catch wind that anyone from Fairy Tail is actively searching for either of them. In other words, keep careful watch over your Dragon Slayers, but especially on Salamander. I would advise restraining him if necessary, considering that his dense skull often refuses to let him actually stop and think about his actions. While that's normally a courageous attribute," here Jade held up a hand to silence Makarov's protests until she was finished speaking her mind, "nothing good can come of it in this case. I feel that either Master or Andy would be inclined to kill one or both of them by draining all of their magical energy and dumping their bodies in front of the guild hall should they even sense that people are trying to search for the two mages."

Makarov let out a sigh, as if his previous protest had been answered during Jade's lengthy speech and he knew that nothing could change it. "Would Cana's card magic count as searching, even if she absentmindedly does a fortune telling involving either of them?" he asked hopefully.

Grant visibly grimaced and said "I would err on the safe side and say she should not do any fortune telling involving either of them, since Andy has likely encountered such magic before and would certainly recognize its use if he has." "Well that's particularly unfortunate, as my brats will be depressed for at least a week. Do you have any idea how long your Master will be holding them for his use?" Makarov asked, with tears threatening to spill free from his eyes.

Jade stood up and walked over to Makarov, gently placing her hands on his shoulders and softly whispering as if to comfort him. "There's no way to tell what Master's true intentions are without asking her directly, and my guess would be anywhere from 3 months to 5 years – if not even longer. Though how and what you tell them is entirely up to you, within the limits we've told you, I feel that it's nearly unavoidable to say they'll be gone from the guild for a long time."

Makarov bit back his tears as he responded, "Alright then. Thank you for coming to inform me about my brats, even though it should've been your comrades' mission in the first place. Your Fairy Tail guild marks shall disappear when you leave the vicinity of our guild hall, though you are always welcome back here – especially if you bring more information or even just updates on Erza and Lucy's condition in captivity."

Grant nodded at him while Jade replied "Thank you for hearing us out, Master Makarov. First Master Mavis." With a quick bow to both, Jade opened the window and prepared to jump out while Grant reactivated invisibility on both of them. Makarov watched them leave with a sad smile on his face, knowing just how painful it was to lose a family member for anyone and just how hard it would be to try his part to ensure his brats returned alive. Turning to Mavis, he sighed and asked her, "So I take it you understand all they've said about The Organization, Blood Summoning magic, and their abduction of Erza and Lucy? Have you formulated a plan to return both of them alive and possibly punishing that Master and her presumed right-hand man for their dastardly actions against our family?"

Mavis nearly began to cry as she realized that despite all her tactical calculations, she could only formulate a plan similar to what Jade had suggested for saving the two female mages – and no idea at all how to also find The Organization's leadership, let alone trapping them long enough for Fairy Tail to deal out sufficient punishment. Makarov's eyes widened upon seeing tears forming in the corners of her eyes and he rushed to comfort her, saying "I'm sorry, First Master Mavis, I should've known better than to ask you for all that much so soon after hearing this news." This apparently calmed down Mavis enough for her to tell him that the best plan was following Jade's suggestions for better or worse. What she didn't tell Makarov was the intense pang she felt in her stomach when she heard Grant's descriptions of the rumors regarding that Master of theirs – as if it perfectly fit the description of someone Mavis herself was all-too-well acquainted with but continually denied such intimate familiarity of in her mind.

After a moment's pause for both to recollect themselves, Makarov began walking downstairs and made for his usual spot atop the bar with Mavis floating behind him. Mira glanced up from the glasses she was cleaning and beamed brightly at them, while greeting them with "Good morning Master! You too, First Master Mavis, although I already told you that earlier today. Do you want your drink now?" Makarov sighed before nodding to the white-haired barmaid, who was intrigued by Makarov's unusual behavior today although she made no visible sign of it as she went into the kitchen to fetch his drink. _'What went on in his office with his "unexpected visitors" to make him so depressed today? He's always been a cheerful man, especially after our guild's semi-frequent parties,'_ wondered Mira. She brought the drink back out to the bar and set it down next to Makarov, though she silently remained standing near him to observe his reactions some more. Makarov was so lost in his thoughts that he unknowingly continued to ignore his drink for a good 10-15 minutes or so when he suddenly heard Mira's concerned voice speak up from behind him. "Are you alright, Master? What's been bothering you today?"

Makarov sighed again, mentally debating whether or not he should tell Mira outright what was troubling his mind before deciding that it could wait until she figured out what was wrong – after all, Mira saw Erza as her best friend and ex-rival and cousin but more importantly she cared for Lucy like a sister many years younger than herself (or maybe like a mother towards her daughter) and if anyone could be counted on to notice their disappearance it was definitely Mira. Having made up his mind, he slowly shook his head and responded, "I must be getting too old for this. Maybe later, Mira, but I'm still trying to sort things out." Mira looked at Makarov and knew that there was definitely something wrong, but seeing as he wouldn't tell her yet she figured it couldn't hurt her to wait for the moment. Hearing Mira's footsteps recede into the distance as she turned back to her barmaid duties, Mavis poked Makarov and giggled at his evident despondence, saying "if you keep that face up any longer everyone's going to know what happened before you can control them" in a sweet sing-song voice. Makarov closed his eyes and forced a fake smile onto his face, and by the time he reopened them the only difference in him that anyone could have noticed was the storm brewing in the far recesses of his eyes.

As the hours passed, many of Fairy Tail's members continued to shuffle into the guild hall – most still stuck with a hangover from their party last night. Heck, Natsu and Gray were unable to stumble in until the afternoon, and even then they somehow were able to keep from insulting or fighting with one another for almost an hour afterwards without the presence of either Erza or Lucy. Finally unable to slouch around any longer, Natsu spoke up.

"Hey Mira, get me some fire whiskey. Or any other drink for that matter, as long as it's on fire – my head hurts like fucking hell right now."

"Oi, Flame Brain, how about you watch your booze intake until you actually learn to stomach it properly?" Gray retorted at the pink-haired mage. Natsu glared back, but was feeling unable to do more to his frenemy until he drank some flaming alcohol first. Then Mira replied, "Sorry Natsu, but you drank the last of our safely flammable booze during the party last night. Besides, even if we still had some I wouldn't give you any since in this case Gray's right – you vomited the equivalent of your stomach's contents back up almost every hour after you'd started seriously drinking. Do you know how hard that was to clean up after Elfman dragged your ass home?" Despite the smile remaining on Mira's face, even Natsu couldn't mistake the dark and menacing aura exuding off of her as a deadly threat and he visibly gulped with his Happy-like "Aye sir!" response soon following.

As things temporarily calmed down again in the guild hall, Mira couldn't help but notice that neither Lucy nor Erza had arrived yet, even though the time had already reached noon. _'That's really strange – at least one of the two should be here already, despite last night's party. Is this what Master's all worked up about?'_ wondered Mira as she shot a quick glance at the seemingly laid-back Makarov, though she could tell that his eyes remained distant as he was lost in his thoughts regarding whatever had occurred in his office that morning. Looking away from Makarov, she saw Natsu and Gray begin to resume their previous verbal standoff – though thankfully they had yet to begin attempting to fling their magic at each other, at least for now.

Members continued to file into the guild hall throughout the rest of the day, though there was no sign of Erza or Lucy ever arriving among them. Once Mira had judged (though woman's intuition) that the two women were actually missing, she figured it was about time to get Makarov to drop the ball regarding what happened to the scarlet-haired knight and the Celestial Spirit mage – especially considering that the earlier bickering between Natsu and Gray had now devolved into an all-out guild brawl without Erza around to stop the violence from escalating. Avoiding the occasional pieces of furniture that flew towards the bar, Mira walked over to Makarov and asked him in her sweet sing-song voice, "Oh Master, where are Erza and Lucy? They can't possibly still be sleeping in from last night's party, and I know that whatever went on in your office this morning has something to do with them." Though the increasingly powerful demonic aura that Mira was exuding was directed at Makarov, the entire guild fell silent from her magical power to see what Makarov would try in order to calm the Demon (but she hasn't even transformed yet…). Seeing as all his children's attention was focused on him, Makarov sighed and rubbed his temples before speaking up.

"Mira, please calm down when I tell you that they were abducted."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Well here we go! The longest chapter I've written so far, and some humor inside. See, I haven't forgotten about this story yet and I even managed to get it up before school resumes! But really, keep giving me reviews please even though I'm going to be busy with school soon.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

The members of Fairy Tail stared at Makarov in stunned silence at his words for a full minute. Heck, it was so silent you could have heard the soft heartbeats coming from the aging guild master. Then, they all proceeded to react in unison as they snapped back into reality.

"EEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH?!"

Makarov knew that it was painful news for his brats to hear that some of their friends had been kidnapped – and especially since it was Lucy that was kidnapped. So before anyone (read: Natsu) could fully react and attempt to go searching for the two women, Makarov continued speaking.

"However, if you brats wish to see either of them alive again you will NOT attempt to search for them at all. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!" he roared as his entire body grew to enormous proportions, all the while glaring at the pink-haired dragon slayer. Without waiting for a proper response from Natsu, Makarov continued speaking in a seemingly calmer tone. "Two people associated with the group that took Lucy and Erza broke into my office this morning and we had a serious conversation about what Erza and more specifically Lucy will be enduring for the foreseeable future. As much as it pains me to say this, they threatened to kill both of our family should any of us seem to be searching for them – so for their sake I refuse any and all requests to go looking for them. Specifically you, Natsu," Makarov said with his staring gaze returning to Natsu, "as you are least able to restrain yourself when necessary. Thus, I shall be confining you to the premises of our guild hall. Freed, would you mind setting up barriers to keep Natsu confined here, please?" The green-haired rune mage nodded as he began writing the necessary runes as per Makarov's request.

A vein could be seen popping out of Natsu's head as he glared at Makarov, before screaming at him in anger. "Then what do you expect me to do, old man? Erza and Lucy are part of our team, and they're our guild mates too – do you really expect me to just sit here and not go help them?!"

"YOU IMPETUOUS FOOL! DO YOU REALLY WANT THEM TO DIE THAT BADLY?!" shouted Makarov in anger as he smashed his oversized fist down upon Natsu to squish him like an annoying bug. Calming his voice somewhat, Makarov questioned, "are you trying to help your friends or are you trying to get all of us killed? There are various things in this world that cannot be resolved by heedlessly charging to the enemy with the idea of fighting and defeating them – this is one such scenario, as much as you might want to deny it." Looking around the guild hall, Makarov could clearly see the desire of his brats to find their friends despite hesitating at his words. _'This is going to be really troublesome. I'm getting too old for this,'_ he thought with a sigh.

* * *

After Manny and Nomad had finally managed to revive Erza and Lucy, they walked the two women from the suite down towards a large, grandly engraved door. It reminded Lucy of the doors leading to the large banqueting halls that she had seen in luxurious mansions from her past, causing her to silently struggle with tears that threatened to fall from her eyes at the memories. Ignoring the fact that his captive was on the verge of a mental breakdown, Nomad rapped the door twice and entered without waiting for permission, dragging Lucy behind him as Manny pushed Erza through and followed her through before closing the door.

The majestic sight sprawling in the large hall allowed Lucy to snap back from her memories into the present. It appeared to be a grand feast that was prepared with enough food to serve at least ten people and likely even more than that, and the tables were designed to resemble a perfect circle when they were all connected together although each individual segment could easily seat twenty people. But what was truly stunning was the beautiful woman seated at the outer center of one of the segments. She wore a shining green cocktail dress, with a single slender strap resting over her left shoulder and the fabric diagonally falling across her chest. It enhanced the prominence of her breasts, and despite the distance Lucy thought they looked about as large as her own pair. However, the fact that neither Manny nor Nomad had yet to move closer told Lucy that this sexy woman had to be a very powerful figure. _'Oh my god, did I just think of her as sexy? I don't swing that way, do I?'_ Lucy frantically worried to herself.

A few silent moments passed with no one moving. The woman obviously knew that four people had just entered, yet she made no movement or indication of greeting them. Erza began to feel agitated, partly due to the fact that they were being treated like they didn't even exist – not to mention that she and Lucy had been abducted instead of killed last night – and partly in apprehension of just how powerful this woman must be that the two men watching over them seemed to be fearful of her. Lucy noticed Erza fidgeting, and sent a small smile in her direction in hopes that she would calm down despite their precarious situation. Yet no one spoke for another few moments.

"While I would normally punish you two, seeing as I had to send Andy to try and find just what was taking you so long, I will let it go this time considering the importance of our guests. Grab yourselves something to eat and go wait just outside the doors until we have finished, as I must show them something particularly secretive – even Andy cannot come in until we are finished." The woman's voice sounded almost bored, yet everyone could clearly hear the venomous threat behind her words. It almost felt like speaking to a snake without the slithering sounds reminiscent of one.

As if on cue, both Manny and Nomad punched their right fist against their left palm and bowed down, shouting out, "Yes Master!" before loading up a plate with their choice foods and quickly leaving out the doors. Erza and Lucy remained rooted to the spot they had been standing in while this Master woman spoke. Master sighed, got up out of her chair, and walked closer to the two women while also beckoning them to approach her. Though they felt very nervous of what was to come, especially considering that the woman's previous words included _'something particularly secretive'_ towards the end, they already knew that angering her would only be worse and following her orders seemed like the best possible continuation.

When the three women had gathered near the tables, Master hugged her two 'guests' and quietly whispered, "Go grab whatever you want to eat, then come back and we'll talk." Her voice sounded soothingly sweet, almost like a combination of Mira's typical barmaid sweetness with something that could probably be best described as the husky love of intimate family. It was a complete turnaround that greatly contrasted with the menace she had directed at two of the men working under her leadership, though neither Erza nor Lucy understood why they were being treated so well by this Master when she could easily be a raging bitch to everyone working with her. It's not like she's currently PMS-ing or just being overly hormonal, but the seemingly sudden mood swing from dangerously calm to familiarly sweet certainly scared both Erza and Lucy. Master merely walked back and sat down in her previous spot, observing the other two women as they finally moved towards the grand feast and piled their plates with enormous amounts of food. One would have been excused for thinking that the two women almost became dragon slayers overnight, as together their plates contained at least as much as, if not more than, the amount Natsu would eat at one of his 'regular' meals.

Master merely watched her guests with feigned disinterest, though if one could read her thoughts it was clear that she had something long planned for the Celestial Spirit mage and was considering how to make the Requip knight useful for her plans. She could care less that the guests were hardly showing any table manners, and had she not known that they were Fairy Tail mages she would have been tempted to punish them like she would have punished her own subordinates in The Organization. She was impressed that they had such large appetites, although considering that they had been knocked out and drugged for about 40 hours it wasn't all that much of a surprise. Actually, she had them drugged only to make sure the location of The Organization's base remained a secret among its members despite their two guests trapped here, even if they had been knocked out after fighting with Manny and Nomad. A safety precaution, if you will – albeit a seemingly rather psychotic one, given the exceedingly nice treatment Master was currently showering upon them. Her mind was soon dragged out of her thoughts as she heard Erza and Lucy finishing up with their meal, and set about preparing to discuss that 'particularly secretive' topic of hers.

Once Erza and Lucy had finished licking their plates clean – the food was literally that good, despite their continued lack of table manners – they silently sat looking at Master, as if waiting for her to start the important conversation. She in turn let out a silent sigh before shifting forwards and leaning on the table. "I would like to begin our talk today with a few … _personal_ … questions, if you don't mind. Especially you, Lucy, as you are capable of developing and using a second type of magic – though your body currently is unaware of that fact." Erza and Lucy both nodded, though their discomfort was evident in their faces. With another sigh, Master continued her questioning. "First, to Erza: I know you've had some feelings for a certain blue-haired mage currently locked up by the Magic Council. His name is what, Jellal I believe?"

Erza's face turned as red as her hair with her blush, but she managed to retort back, "How do you know that? Natsu's the only other person I have ever told, and only because he –"

"– saved you from the Tower of Heaven, yeah yeah yeah. Honestly, your mind was never particularly secretive about it. But do you truly feel as if you _love_ him, or is that more of a _familial_ caring 'love' you hold for him?" Master cut in, hinting at the usage of an ability for her to read other's minds to some extent. Seeing Erza hesitate in her response, Master concluded she would have to probe deeper into Erza's emotions. "Is there any specific guy you would do _anything_ for? Or is it true that you are actually a lesbian? C'mon Erza, loosen up a bit – I'm just trying to see how you can help Lucy while I have both of you in my base."

Erza was now quaking with embarrassment, her face blushing even redder than her namesake scarlet-red hair (apparently that is now possible) as her mind ran a blank on all attempts to form truthful, coherent answers to her interrogator's questions. All she could come up with was _'Natsu … dense brother … women … cute … steaming embarrassment'_ before finally stuttering out "W-W-W-Well, I-I-I g-g-guess m-maybe I d-do p-prefer g-g-girls." Finally realizing how she had answered the woman's questions, Erza felt her blood boiling from her embarrassing admittance – who could have guessed her sexuality would be discovered in this manner! She probably would have fainted from embarrassment, but the mind-reading woman suddenly sprung onto the table and fiercely kissed Erza full on the lips. When she finally broke away to ensure Erza could still breathe properly, the latter had fainted from shock – causing Master to pout while complaining, "Aww… her lips tasted pretty yummy. A splash of strawberry mixed with a hint of metal, I would describe it as. Maybe I did push too far right off the bat. Oh well, guess she'll just have to find out what she's missing later on."

Lucy was now officially freaking out, as Master's voice still portrayed the same soothingly sweet sounds from when the woman were talking to her and Erza but all the action that Lucy just saw only reminded her of the punishment threatened by the venomous voice directed at Manny and Nomad. As much as she wanted to run out of the room right then and there, she felt too scared of whatever punishment this Master woman might have in mind yet she was also just as scared of any 'personal questions' that might be asked. The fear she felt must have been evident on Lucy's face, since when Master turned to focus on Lucy she reached out and embraced the blonde, trying to calm her down before questioning. Or perhaps Master's mind-reading ability picked up that Lucy's brain was primarily thinking of _'fear … punishment … fear …questioning … fear … escape … fear'_ and was working on dispelling it to the best of her ability in order for her very important guest to enjoy being trapped in this facility called a base.

After a few moments of rubbing Lucy's back, Master finally stopped hugging the poor girl, though her hands remained on Lucy's shoulders as if to hold her in place during questioning. "Are you alright, Lucy? I don't want you to feel fear when you try to answer my questions." Though Lucy was still panting due to barely resisting an emotional breakdown, she was able to nod as her mind slowly cleared of fear. "Well then, I would first like to see who _you_ like. I know about Natsu, but it seems you like him more as a best friend who's rarely left your side – especially since he never really gave you a chance to know the other men in Fairy Tail besides Gray. If he wasn't such a dense idiot, would have actually fallen in love with him?"

Lucy seemed to consider the question for a long time before giving her response, partly thankful that the other woman didn't interrupt her train of thought despite probably having read Lucy's mind. With a sigh, Lucy answered, "I doubt it. He always rushes to fight, especially to fight Gray who constantly strips without realizing it. When it comes to all the other guys, I suppose Laxus might have been a possibility since he's much more mature, though Bixlow would never let me live it down peacefully and I don't think Evergreen would take too kindly to that idea either. Most of the other guys are also jerks, so at best I might've fallen for a guy in another guild. Perhaps Hibiki, but that _'Men!'_ thing he always does with Ichiya is really creepy. I don't really know, though. From what I can tell, Sabertooth's twin dragon slayers Sting and Rogue aren't that much different from Natsu and Gajeel – and it'd be really weird if I got it on with someone in our rival guild."

Master sweat-dropped at Lucy's rambling, thinking _'she basically just destroyed every meaningful shipping on FFnet with a non-OC guy. What the fuck am I supposed to do about this? We can't keep up such pairings when Lucy doesn't actually _like _like those guys…'_ before considering how to 'innocently' phrase her next question. "Then what about other girls? You've never really checked them out before, but do you feel any … _attraction_ towards them?"

Lucy's face screwed up in concentration, and her eyes seemed to lose the glint of focus as her mind wandered around who-knows-where. Erza was silently moaning from her sprawled-out spot on the floor, though Master knew she was still unconscious from shock. Time continued to pass, and Master could distantly hear Manny and Nomad wondering about just how important her 'secret' was that it took Master this long with the captives. _'Whatever, they don't need to understand yet – my concern currently lies in front of me here, not out there,'_ Master thought to herself. She continued waiting intently until Lucy refocused and sputtered out an answer.

"I suppose not. Erza's a good friend, and from what I can tell she seems to be opening herself up more after Team Natsu formed but I don't think I could feel the same way about her that she probably does for me." Lucy shudders at the thought but continues speaking. "Levy's basically my best friend, but she's perfect for Gajeel and I don't think I could stand his wrath if he felt like I was making her cheat on him. Lisanna and Mira are sweet sisters, but I don't feel anything else for them. Maybe girls from the other guilds could be hot, but like you said I've never actually checked out any of them so I can't really say." Master blinked back with a blank look on her face, wondering _'how on earth are we going to ship this girl? Fuck she's making things really complicated for FFnet at the rate she's going.'_ Snapping back from her thoughts, Master then questioned Lucy, "Then does that mean you're bisexual?"

"Wh-what are you getting at? I-I've never thought of girls that way, I swear!" Lucy shrieked with a hint of fear creeping into her voice. Master rolled her eyes at Lucy's antics and proceeded to show her the logical reasoning for concluding Lucy is bisexual.

"But you've never really thought of all those guys that much different, am I right? I'm sure you're not asexual, since you _have_ blushed thinking about Natsu before, as well as blushing by thinking about Erza – so that means you must be bisexual!" Master grinned as if everything made perfect sense, which it did in her mind – except Lucy still refused to accept her reasoning. "You're also still a virgin, which makes everything all the more interesting. I'm thinking of taking that card from you…" Master said with a lecherous-like grin, which only reminded Lucy of Makarov's grins and causing her to pass out from shocked fright.

…but now the woman pouts seeing her two guests passed out on the floor. Releasing a bored sigh, she shouts at Manny and Nomad to bring Erza and Lucy back to their suite. _'Looks like I'll need to continue that discussion later,'_ Master thinks to herself as Manny and Nomad disappear out the door again.


End file.
